Another home game for the Raiders completed the three-games weekend in which they hosted the Peterborough Phantoms who have already secured a playoff spot.
Raiders needed to be on top form to beat the Phantoms as they are a very disciplined side under Slava Koulikov’s leadership. Raiders began the game fast having a lot of shots and having a number of powerplay opportunities, they failed to capitalise on the man advantage despite having the chances to do so. Phantoms punished the Raiders for missed chances as former player Lukas Sladkovsky placed a shot through the five-hole of Ethan James. The Raiders continued to have chances, but Phantoms netminder Jordan Marr was not allowing anything past him.
The Phantoms went into the break with one goal cushion despite being outshot 8-6.
Raiders continued the pressure off the puck drop for the second with Marr being called into action very quickly. It did not take long for Raiders to draw level as Mikey Power finished on a tight angle on the powerplay off a Billy Thorpe tripping call making it a level game.
Phantoms became ill disciplined giving up three consecutive penalties which gave Raiders yet more powerplay time to gain the lead, but they failed to do so as Marr was yet again making crucial saves. The game remained level heading into the third period meaning the two points was still all to play for.
Adam Laishram came out for the third with a real desire to win this game for his team and early in the period he found the net off a Marr rebound after making a double save, which saw the Raiders take the lead for the first time. Laishram continued to show his quality in front of net after Raiders were fortunate not to get called for tripping, Tjay Anderson finding him in front to make it 3-1.
Laishram was not finished as he collected the puck in the neutral zone and dangled his way through the defence to complete his hat trick. Raiders needed another to sit comfortable for the remaining minutes which is what they did scoring a shorthanded marker. Coy Prevost won the perfect face off draw and captain Aaron Connolly’s shot crawled over the line putting the game out of the Phantoms reach giving the Raiders another crucial two points in the play-off race.
The four-point haul over the weekend for the Raiders leaves them in seventh place ahead of Bees by two points who visit the Sapphire next Saturday in another match up that will go a long way to determining Raiders play-off qualification.
Man of the match awards went to Jordan Marr for his thirty-five save game and for the Raiders the hat trick hero Adam Laishram deservedly took the honours.
Raiders Scoring: Adam Laishram 3+0, Aaron Connolly 1+2, Coy Prevost 0+2, Tjay Anderson 0+2, Mikey Power 1+0, Elliot Dewey 0+1, George Norcliffe 0+1.
Phantoms Scoring: Lukas Sladkovsky 1+0, Callum Buglass 0+1.
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